Exploring Ongoing Health Impacts of 9/11

Visitors tie blue ribbons on a railing surrounding the Last Column during a ceremony on May 30, 2015.
Visitors affixed blue ribbons around the Last Column at the May 2015 commemorative event. Photo by Jin Lee.

Update (12/10):  In recent days the potential reauthorization of the Zadroga Act, which would provide permanent funding for health care programs treating those affected by the 9/11 events, has been in the national spotlight. The New York Daily News labels the reauthorization effort as has having taken a strong step forward.

As part of its commitment to record the continuing impacts of the 2001 attacks, the 9/11 Memorial Museum is providing more information about the physical and mental health consequences linked to the attacks and their aftermath. To help build awareness of the plight of ailing 9/11 survivors, rescuers, and recovery workers sickened by exposure to Ground Zero toxins, visitors to the museum will receive a brochure focused on 9/11-related illnesses.

The brochure also helps visitors locate artifacts and documentation about 9/11-related illnesses in the museum. More information and resources on efforts to ensure long-term medical benefits and compensation for those impacted are available here.  

Each year in May, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum foundation commemorates the formal end of the rescue and recovery effort at Ground Zero.  The recovery effort ended May 30, 2002.  There is also an online registry that documents participants in the rescue, recovery, investigation, cleanup and relief efforts after the terror strikes in New York City, Arlington, Va., and Somerset County, Pa.

By Anthony Guido, 9/11 Memorial Director of Communications

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